---
name: mohitagw15856/house-style-enforcer
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/mohitagw15856-house-style-enforcer@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: 5eb7fa939461
---

# House Style Enforcer Skill

Most teams have a house style nobody wrote down — it lives in the three documents everyone calls "really good" and gets enforced by vibes in review. This skill makes it checkable: extract the rules from the exemplars (structure, tone registers, formatting conventions, banned constructions), compress them into a one-page rule card, then run drafts against the card — fixing violations *of the card* while leaving the author's voice alone, because style guides that flatten everyone into one android author get ignored in self-defense.

## What This Skill Produces

- **The rule card** — one page: structure rules, tone register, formatting conventions, the banned list — each rule with an example from the exemplars
- **The conformance pass** — the draft checked rule-by-rule, fixes applied with the violated rule cited
- **The voice line** — what the card deliberately does NOT govern (word choice within register, sentence rhythm, personality) — written down so enforcement has a boundary
- **The card's maintenance rule** — how rules get added/killed, so the card doesn't become the forty-page guide nobody reads

## Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:
- **The exemplars** — the 2–4 documents the team already agrees are right; the card is extracted from evidence, not invented from taste
- **The draft to check** (for conformance passes) — and its author's awareness (a pass the author asked for reads differently than one imposed; the output's tone follows)
- **The known fights** — the style arguments that recur (oxford commas, heading case, "we" vs "I", emoji in docs) — the card exists to settle them once, so they need listing
- **The scope** — which document types the card governs (specs? emails too?) — over-scoped cards die of exceptions

## Framework: The Enforcement Rules

1. **Extract, don't legislate:** every rule on the card cites its exemplar evidence ("all three exemplars open with the decision — rule: BLUF opening") — rules from taste get relitigated forever; rules from the team's own best work carry their own authority.
2. **The card is one page or it's a shelf ornament:** structure (3–5 rules), tone register (2–3), formatting (3–5), the banned list (the recurring fights, settled with one line each). Rule 15 costs compliance with rules 1–14; the maintenance rule (add one → consider killing one) keeps the budget.
3. **Check against the card, not against taste:** the conformance pass cites a card rule for every fix — "passive voice in the recommendation (card: recommendations are active)" — and anything the checker dislikes *without* a card rule is either proposed as a new rule or left alone. This is what separates enforcement from rewriting-in-my-voice.
4. **The voice line is load-bearing:** the card governs structure, register, and conventions — not vocabulary within register, not rhythm, not humor-where-appropriate. Two compliant authors should still sound like two people; a pass that makes everyone sound like the checker is a bug with confidence.
5. **Settle the fights on the card, once:** each recurring argument gets its line ("Oxford comma: yes · headings: sentence case · emoji: sparing in docs, free in chat") — the card's citation ends the thread. Fights the card hasn't settled get settled *by amending the card*, not by winning in one document's comments.

## Output Format

# House Style: [team] — card v[N]

## The Rule Card (one page)
**Structure:** [rules + exemplar cites] · **Register:** [...] · **Formatting:** [...] · **Settled fights:** [the one-liners]
**The voice line:** this card does not govern [vocabulary within register, rhythm, personality].

## Conformance Pass: [draft]
| Location | Violation | Card rule | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
[Plus: "flagged but not card-covered: [items] — propose as rules or leave alone"]

## Maintenance
[Add-one-consider-killing-one · card owner · where it lives]

## Quality Checks

- [ ] Every rule cites exemplar evidence
- [ ] The card fits one page with the fight-settlers included
- [ ] Every conformance fix cites its rule; taste-only objections are separated
- [ ] The voice line exists and the pass honored it
- [ ] The card has an owner and an amendment path

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not invent rules from taste — extraction from exemplars or it's just the loudest reviewer's preferences, laminated
- [ ] Do not grow the card past a page — comprehensiveness is how style guides die
- [ ] Do not fix what no rule covers — that's rewriting, wearing enforcement's badge
- [ ] Do not flatten voice — compliant and distinctive must remain compatible or authors will route around the card
- [ ] Do not relitigate settled fights in comments — amend the card or accept it; documents are not the venue